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SLC requests BCCI to play the shorter format first, since SL’s T20I squad will have just concluded a series in Australia

Shashank Kishore02-Feb-2022India are set to play a day-night Test in Bengaluru against Sri Lanka, and will now also play the T20I leg of the tour first – a reversal of what had been originally scheduled.The dates are still being tweaked, but the BCCI appears to have agreed to Sri Lanka Cricket’s request to play the shorter format first, to allow a smoother bubble-to-bubble transfer of their T20I squad, who will have just concluded a series in Australia.This tweak also mean Virat Kohli will not play his 100th Test in Bengaluru, a prospect that was on the cards after he finished the South Africa tour on 99 Tests. He had missed the second Test in Johannesburg due to back spasms.The first Test will now be played in Mohali, with the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, which has now upgraded its flood lights, set to host the tour-ending pink-ball Test. Dharamsala is likely to open the tour with the first two T20Is before the teams proceed to Mohali for the final game.With northern India still in the midst of winter, the board is reluctant to schedule the day-night Test in Mohali owing to fog and heavy dew. Another reason for the change as per a Karnataka State Cricket Association official is Bengaluru offers direct connectivity to Colombo, which would then allow Sri Lanka to fly home without a stopover.Reluctant for long to host pink-ball Tests, the BCCI came onboard with the idea for the first time when they hosted Bangladesh at Eden Gardens in November 2019. In February last year, they hosted England in Ahmedabad for their second pink-ball Tests. India won both Tests inside three days.

Govender is the first woman to take on the role of heading CSA

Firdose Moonda19-Aug-2020Kugandrie Govender, Cricket South Africa’s chief commercial officer, has been appointed acting CEO following Dr Jacques Faul’s resignation this week. Govender is the first woman to take on the role of heading the game’s governing body in South Africa.No term limit has been set on Govender’s role as CSA continues to deal with the case of suspended CEO Thabang Moroe, who has been out of the office since December last year. Moroe is facing allegations of serious misconduct but has yet to conclude disciplinary proceedings. He met with CSA last week and is expected to have further discussions with the board this week; even if he is dismissed, CSA will still need to undertake a recruitment process for a new CEO. Govender can thus expect to be in charge for a significant period of time. Her predecessor, Faul, was in the role for eight months and stepped down four weeks before his contract was up.Govender takes over at a time when CSA is lurching through several crises. The organisation is also without a president after Chris Nenzani resigned on Monday, three weeks before his term was due to end. A new president will be elected at the AGM on September 5. CSA has also recently parted ways with COO Naasei Appiah and head of sales and sponsorships Clive Eksteen, who are both contesting their dismissals in court. Further, CSA has been unable to secure a television rights or sponsorship deal for the franchise T20 competition, the Mzansi Super League (MSL) and all indications are that it will not be played this summer, which may also see scant international action. South Africa’s borders remain closed due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and yesterday, the women’s team were denied government permission to travel to play a series in England, despite the ECB offering to charter a flight and create a biosecure bubble.Dr Jacques Faul chose to leave after a board meeting in which his position became untenable•Getty Images

That leaves Govender with a range of challenges including that of continued racial disunity, which she mentioned as a top priority. “CSA’s mandate is to ensure that cricket is an inclusive sporting code for all South Africans,” Govender said. “It is important to improve our reputation both locally and internationally. This is a critical time for our organisation and crucial for key stakeholders to work together to improve the rating of cricket among those who love, support, and follow the sport and those who have trust in the sport’s ability to unify all South Africans. We will work hard to improve the levels of pride amongst our stakeholders and I am humbled to be a part of the collective that commits itself to ensure that CSA is a federation of which South Africans are proud.”Govender’s previous experience includes working as a sales executive for several media companies, including Octagon productions who were involved in the television production of the FIFA World Cup, as a business development manager for a strategic marketing company and most recently, as head of sales and marketing at a school.”We believe that Kugandrie is the right person to drive the organisation forward during this period,” CSA’s acting president Beresford Williams said. “Her experience has more than prepared her to fulfill this role with excellence, we are confident that she will propel the many strategic initiatives that CSA undertakes, to inspire and unify our stakeholders, partners, and employees, to continue the work of building the reputation of cricket and more importantly Cricket South Africa, so as to contribute to its sporting competitiveness.”

Bowler takes ten wickets for the match to assure Lancashire of victory against his former side

Paul Edwards at Old Trafford16-May-2019
“Northamptonshire found me. They gave me the opportunity to play first-class cricket and I owe my career to them. If it hadn’t been for them, I could still be coaching in schools.”Richard Gleeson will never tire of saying what he owes to Northamptonshire. The unfortunate thing for his former muckers, though, was that he made a fine job of concealing his debt on the third afternoon and evening of this game when he took four wickets in 15 very fiery deliveries and collected 5 for 50 in the innings, thus leaving him with a career-best 10 for 113 in the match.Perhaps demolition is the sincerest form of gratitude. Far more likely, of course, what we saw at Old Trafford was simple professionalism. Alex Wakely and his players might be gratified to hear the first and will understand the second. Damn all else will console them this evening. Sometimes it is not the best idea to stay in a hotel overlooking the ground on which you are playing. For when Wakely and his players have dined, they will look out on the cricket field when they subsided for the second time in three days.Having managed only 200 in their second innings, Northamptonshire’s players will go out to field tomorrow with a total of only 15 to defend. Cricketers are fond of saying that a match will look very different if they “go bang-bang”, that is to say, if they take two very quick wickets. Tomorrow Northants need to go bang-times-ten. They know they have already lost the game and Wakely is the sort of rock-solid skipper who will not conceal his team’s failure.”We have been totally outplayed by Lancashire in this match,” he said. “There are ways to win and ways to lose. Even when you’re up against it, you want to put up a fight. You want to be competitive and we haven’t been today.”No one should dispute that judgement but they should give immense credit to Gleeson, who less than two years ago was an important member of the Northants side which came precious close to winning promotion from the Second Division. Last summer the Blackpool-born cricketer returned home to Lancashire – who were promptly relegated. This evening he showed why his home county were keen to lure him back.For the truth is that deep into the final session most spectators at Old Trafford were more or less reconciled to this game going well into the final day. Despite conceding a first-innings lead of 185 and then slumping weakly to 87 for 4, Rob Keogh and Josh Cobb were mounting a recovery in traditional Northants fashion: gritty, unfussy and effective.But Gleeson had other plans. He had earlier dismissed Wakely, who conspired in his own downfall when he slapped an innocuous delivery straight to Haseeb Hameed at cover. That brought the number of donated wickets up to two; Ricardo Vasconcelos had earlier done more or less the same to a ball from Tom Bailey.But Gleeson had not bowled that well and Lancashire’s attack was running out of puff. They needed a fourth morning we thought. But suddenly the ball was flying around the batsmen’s shoulders and it was doing so at pace. Cobb was expecting another chest concerto when a full length ball trapped him leg before for 30. Next over Keogh was caught by Dane Vilas down the leg side for 42. Six balls later Gleeson burst through Rob Newton’s defences and two balls later he brought one back off the seam to castle Jamie Overton.”I decided to try a little bit of short stuff to get the batsman’s feet not moving quite as much,” said Gleeson. “It came out nicely and the plan worked. I bowled a few short ones at Rob Keogh and that put a little bit of doubt in the other batsmen’s minds. They were maybe sitting back a little and a couple were caught waiting for the short ball.”Suddenly a three-day finish was in prospect. An extra half-hour was claimed and Liam Livingstone took two wickets in successive overs to end the innings. But by then, the lead was 15 and the day was done. The players, the support staff, the media and no doubt more than a few spectators will rock up to see a few overs’ cricket. Apparently entrance is free; once again Lancastrian generosity is unbounded.Vilas will turn up and hope he doesn’t have to bat. His 97 had ensured that Lancashire would build a mighty lead in the earlier part of this very long day. Mind you, he was helped by Bailey, whose career-best 68 offered another indication that his career is developing very pleasantly. But these were some of the finer hours in Gleeson’s career and we should return to him.A few years back he thought his future lay in coaching. Then that great cricket man David Ripley, the Northamptonshire head coach, rang and asked him if he fancied a few games for their second team. And now, as these words are tapped out in the gathering dusk of a wonderful day, Gleeson is buying a round of drinks for his Lancashire colleagues to mark his career-best performance on his home debut.”I’ve never had a ten-for before,” he told the press, his eyes gleaming with pleasure, “So I’m hugely proud and very happy that I don’t have to do any bowling tomorrow.”If you love this game, it will love you back.

Deal understood to be worth USD 84.5 million approximately

Nagraj Gollapudi09-Mar-2018Indian business conglomerate Jindal South West (JSW) Sports has bought a 50% ownership stake in IPL franchise Delhi Daredevils. ESPNcricinfo understands JSW Sports’ valuation of the Daredevils franchise was worth INR 1100 crore (USD 169 million approx), which is double the amount the franchise was originally bought at in 2008. This means JSW Sports will pay the Daredevils’ owners GMR Sports Private Ltd INR 550 crore (USD 84.5 million approx) for the partnership.The deal will be sealed once the IPL Governing Council gives it its stamp of approval, something which is expected soon.In its decade-long existence, this is the first time in the IPL that a franchise has sold a major chunk of its ownership stake. In 2008, when the franchises were sold by the BCCI, the GMR Group bought Daredevils for USD 84 million at the time.In business circles it was known that JSW Sports was looking for a deal to get into the IPL. However, the franchises remained uncertain. One recent significant development that has played a role in this deal was the record-breaking IPL media-rights contract last year. Star India won the global bid for the IPL broadcasting rights (television and digital), paying INR 16,347.5 crore (USD 2.55 billion) for a five-year contract (2018-2022), making it the most expensive media-rights deal in cricket ever.It also meant that going forward, each IPL franchise would pocket INR 150 crore (USD 23.4 million) from the central-revenue pool, twice the amount they had been working with in the first ten seasons. Each franchise, as a result, is likely to have a profit of about INR 50 crore (USD 7.8 million approx) per season for the next five years.”It is good for the IPL,” a BCCI official said on the GMR-JSW Sports partnership. “Transactions like these to have to happen. This will have a cascading effect. You needed a reference point and now you have one.”Parth Jindal, head of JSW Sports, said that the foray into cricket was an extension to the group’s already established investments in sport. JSW Sports also own franchises in football, kabaddi and wrestling leagues in India. The company owns Bengaluru FC in the Indian Super League, which is the equivalent of IPL in Indian football. “This is something that we as a group are excited about,” Jindal said.Kiran Grandhi, the GMR Group’s chairman, said the deal with JSW Sports was “symbolic” of the “immense potential” of cricket in the country.

Western Australia allrounder Hilton Cartwright has been included in the Australia squad for the second Test against Pakistan at the MCG

Brydon Coverdale and Daniel Brettig20-Dec-20160:49

Quick Facts – Hilton Cartwright

Australia’s selectors have pushed still further towards youth, ignoring Mitchell Marsh in order to draft his Western Australia team-mate Hilton Cartwright into the Boxing Day Test squad as all-round cover for a bowling attack heavily fatigued by their Gabba exertions.Cartwright, who had already been included in the Chappell-Hadlee ODI squad to face New Zealand but did not play, is an allrounder whose virtues have been pushed by the interim selector Greg Chappell in particular, as part of the developmental Cricket Australia XI that first played in the Matador Cup two summers ago.Last season he graduated to the Western Australia state side and performed strongly with the bat in the Sheffield Shield, something he has backed up this season to average 44.50 across 16 first-class matches. His bowling record is less notable, with a career tally of 15 first-class wickets at 41.93 and only four wickets at 74.75 in the current Shield campaign.

Test squad

David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith (capt), Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson, Hilton Cartwright, Matthew Wade (wk), Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers

However, the acting selection chairman Trevor Hohns emphasised the desire for a batting allrounder to take a place in the top six, a role Marsh has been unable to adequately fill over time. The decision also means the incumbent No.6, Nic Maddinson, could face the axe after three Test innings of 0, 1 and 4 in Adelaide and Brisbane.”The bowlers got through a high workload in Brisbane and although everyone has pulled up okay, on reflection we wanted to give ourselves the option of including an allrounder in Melbourne to ease that workload somewhat,” Hohns said.”To do that, we wanted a batting allrounder, someone to bowl seam-up and capable of batting in the top six as well, and after considering several names we came to the conclusion that Hilton fits that bill. We have seen plenty of him, he has performed well this season and we believe that if called upon he will do an excellent job.”Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood each bowled 56 overs during the win over Pakistan at the Gabba, which for both men was their biggest workload not only in a Test match but in any first-class game. Jackson Bird sent down 45 overs, his highest tally in a Test. As such, the selection shift away from an allrounder, which took place when Marsh was dropped following the first Test of the summer, has been rethought.”It depends on what sort of wickets you play on,” Australia’s coach, Darren Lehmann, said after the win in Brisbane. “You would have probably liked to have an extra bowling option in this game but we went with the six batsmen, four bowlers and they got the job done, albeit a lot of work into our quicks.”Should Cartwright become Australia’s 450th Test cricketer when the XI is confirmed for Boxing Day, it would mean an uncertain Test future for Maddinson. On debut at Adelaide Oval, Maddinson was bowled for a 12-ball duck by Kagiso Rabada, while at the Gabba he was dropped on 0, then caught behind for 1 in the first innings. In the second, he was caught hooking for 4 as Australia sought quick runs and a declaration.”We’ve had two pink-ball Test matches, so red-ball Test coming up and we know he’s a fine player,” Lehmann said of Maddinson on Monday, before Cartwright was added to the squad. “He’s just got to believe at this level. I actually thought he did a really good team thing the other day [in the second innings].”I know there was some talk in the commentary and media that he probably could have gone up the order and done that, but Steve’s really strong on keeping the batting order very similar. So he came in for two balls, tried to get the game moving as quickly as he could. So I disregard the second innings of this one, and we’ve got some red-ball cricket coming up, so I’m sure he’ll do okay.”Another member of Australia’s new-look side who will be keen to justify the faith of the selectors is wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, who replaced Peter Nevill ahead of the Adelaide Test. The selectors preferred Wade’s batting fight down the order and although he scored two Test centuries in his previous incarnation in the baggy green, he has not made double figures since his recall.Wade’s work behind the stumps has also left a little to be desired. In Adelaide, he failed to move for a chance when Hashim Amla edged Mitchell Starc and first slip Matt Renshaw ultimately spilled the chance with his left hand. At the Gabba, Wade missed a stumping chance off Nathan Lyon when Sarfraz Ahmed had 31 in the first innings; he went on to make 59 not out. He also appeared to miss a possible catch when Yasir Shah tickled down leg off Starc late in Pakistan’s chase.”Obviously his batting ability, although he hasn’t got any runs at the moment,” Lehmann said when asked what Wade brought to the squad. “He’s been working pretty hard with that. And his energy behind the stumps. He’d like to keep better obviously, but I thought he’s improved his keeping out of sight in the last 12 to 18 months from where we were.”Peter Nevill is obviously a very good keeper as well. It’s a tight call whichever way you go. But Matthew’s got the chance to nail down the spot and we’ll see how he goes in Melbourne.”

Chasing 459, Western Australia were wiped out for 102 in 28.2 overs, as Victoria romped home to pick up their first win and rise to the top of the table

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Nov-2015
ScorecardFile photo – Scott Boland ripped through Western Australia•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

Chasing 459, Western Australia were wiped out for 102 in 28.2 overs, as Victoria romped home to pick up their second win and rise to the top of the table.Right-arm pacer Scott Boland scythed through Western Australia with career-best figures of 7 for 31. Each of Western Australia’s top three managed double-digit scores but failed to build on it, the last nine wickets tumbling for only 57 runs. James Pattinson collected two wickets while Fawad Ahmed pitched in with one.Earlier in the day, Marcus Stoinis completed his second first-class century, taking his match tally to 185. Rob Quiney managed only nine runs to his overnight score before he was out for 71. Peter Handscomb (63) gave Stonis good company before Aaron Finch struck a quick 45. Victoria eventually declared their innings at 322 for 7, after the fall of Pattinson (0).

Emotional outburst is now the accepted rationale of Mushfiqur Rahim’s resignation from the Bangladesh captaincy but BCB president Nazmul Hassan has vowed to get to the bottom of this sudden decision, hinting that there were other contributing factors.

Mohammad Isam09-May-2013Emotional outburst is now the accepted rationale of Mushfiqur Rahim’s resignation from the Bangladesh captaincy but BCB president Nazmul Hassan has vowed to get to the bottom of this sudden decision, hinting that there were other contributing factors.Mushfiqur’s inability to control himself has been well known to those close to him, and given how easily Bangladesh went down to Zimbabwe in the ODI on Wednesday, it was enough for him to get riled and defeat to Zimbabwe would obviously lead to anger in the Bangladesh dressing-room.There were far too many poor shots played by senior batsmen, including Mushfiqur, and the bowling was not efficient enough to defend 247 on Wednesday or 252 in the 2nd ODI. In general, there was a lack of hunger, noticeable in the players’ body language.There was, predictably, a lot of expectation on Bangladesh. A team that can beat West Indies and Sri Lanka would certainly be expected to win the subsequent series against Zimbabwe. Instead the pressure of expectation got to the players, some taking the contest too lightly while others, like Mushfiqur, visibly crumbled.When he took over as captain in 2011, former Bangladesh national selector Faruque Ahmed, who picked Mushfiqur at the age of 16 to play the Lord’s Test in 2005, pointed out only one blemish in Mushfiqur’s make-up, saying: “He has difficulty handling matters when he doesn’t do well himself.” In essence, Faruque meant that when his batting or wicketkeeping sees bad days, he has a difficult time coming to terms with it.At the time this was a minor factor as some argued that he was mature enough to keep a positive outlook in tough times. There was a short honeymoon period in his captaincy before losses to Pakistan at home, but over the last 12 months, Mushfiqur has led well and kept the team on an even keel.But in Zimbabwe, his preparation was hampered by poorly organised practice sessions and trouble in the hotel. For someone who is very particular with preparation, these were important issues that needed to be taken care of. Then came the 335-run defeat in the first Test, after which Bangladesh recovered with a series-equalling win in the second Test. Mushfiqur led from the front, his 93 in the second innings being the clinching factor. But the 2-1 ODI series defeat ultimately became the trigger for his announcement.He talked to BCB president Hassan on Wednesday night, but like he told his teammates and the media earlier, he did not elaborate on the “why” and “why now”. Apparently he was sobbing as he talked to Hassan, who was critical of the time he chose to quit, especially as it was done while on tour and with two more matches left to play.”Mushfiqur couldn’t speak properly when I called him,” Hassan said. “He was probably choking back tears. He just told me that he can’t give proper leadership, and that there were issues with teamwork. We will investigate all of this when the team returns.”But it wasn’t smart to give up the captaincy while on tour. We will find out upon his return why he quit so suddenly. We need to find out what compelled him to take this decision, if there were any instigating factors. If we find anyone guilty of hampering our team’s progress in any way, we will definitely take action.”Hassan said he will also talk to Mushfiqur about some of the shots the senior batsmen played. Throughout the three ODIs, there were ordinary dismissals from the top and middle-order batsmen that led to collapses but while they recovered through Nasir Hossain, Mahmudullah and one occasion Abdur Razzak, it was not enough in the second and third ODIs.”We probably still don’t know how to bat in such conditions,” Hassan said. “But at the same time, the way some of the batsmen gave away their wickets at crucial times was just astonishing. I have told the management to investigate already, but I think it’s best to talk to Mushfiqur directly.”The Bangladesh captaincy has changed hands quite frequently over the last decade, despite the cultural subtext that success was not always the defining factor. Since the team loses more often, the captains over the years have been expected to lead from the front. In his stint, Mushfiqur has done it well on the field, but this move will lose him a lot of goodwill.If there were internal issues that prompted him to quit, Mushfiqur should have spoken to the players directly or gone through the cricket board. A defeat to Zimbabwe is unacceptable in Bangladesh, but this was no case to kick out the captain. It should have led to introspection, and now perhaps there will be, but with a lot of hue and cry.

Chennai Super Kings seem to thrive in times of difficulty. At one point this season, they were hanging by a thread to stay alive and now they’re just two wins away from a third straight title

The Report by Siddhartha Talya23-May-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Led by their captain MS Dhoni, Chennai Super Kings knocked out Mumbai Indians•Associated Press

Chennai Super Kings seem to thrive in times of difficulty. At one point in this season, they were hanging by a thread to stay alive and now they’re just two wins away from a third straight title. They didn’t flinch after losing two wickets in two balls in the second over, they didn’t allow a few quick wickets in the latter half of their innings to affect the tempo built by an impressive counterattack. Instead, they took the fightback to a higher level, led by their captain MS Dhoni, whose blistering assault left Mumbai Indians scarred on their way out of the competition. Super Kings’ determination and tenacity proved too much for Mumbai Indians, a promising campaign ending in disappointment.Asked to bat on one of the most productive tracks this season, Michael Hussey and S Badrinath rode on some fortune to help their team recover from trouble and Dhoni then assumed that attacking avatar that had made him a sensation when he hit the international scene. The efforts of those three, together with Dwayne Bravo’s late surge boosted Super Kings just as Mumbai Indians dropped their guard with the ball. Only Dwayne Smith’s early attack in the chase gave them some hope, but that didn’t last long.Some late swing played a hand in Dhawal Kulkarni’s two early strikes and Harbhajan Singh was miserly with the new ball, but Hussey and Badrinath took the challenge head on. Both were initially fortunate to find boundaries off edges with the seamers still finding some movement. But they also middled a few, and found the gaps consistently despite the field being pushed back after the Powerplay. Both drove well, Badrinath cracking Kulkarni past mid-off and Hussey creaming Lasith Malinga through extra cover. When Harbhajan brought his medium-pacers on – his ploy to shuffle the bowling backfired – Super Kings ensured the flow remained unaffected. Kieron Pollard was pulled for two fours in an over, the 10th of the innings, after the first timeout – the cue, presumably, for Super Kings to step up further.Harbhajan was himself smashed for two sixes before Hussey took RP Singh for two boundaries. The first four overs after the timeout yielded 47. Hussey, Badrinath and Ravindra Jadeja, however, fell in a space of 11 deliveries, but the last eight overs of the innings were to produce 105 runs.The man largely responsible for that was Dhoni, who flicked his first ball for four over midwicket. Though he has come to exercise far more restraint in his batting, the approach today betrayed no signs of that recent tendency to accumulate steadily before opening up. To his advantage, Mumbai Indians doled out a spate of length balls that he wasn’t willing to spare. James Franklin was dispatched over long-on for the biggest six of this tournament, Kulkarni was thrashed down the ground and past cover, and he even had time to make room and cart RP over extra cover.The stand-out shot was his favourite whiplash, imparting tremendous force against a length ball from Malinga that found itself in the deep-midwicket stand. Bravo, in that penultimate over, launched Malinga – who bowled his most expensive spell of this season – over midwicket and extra cover before finishing off with two sixes off Kulkarni. One of them was battered flat over wide long-off, off-balanced, the power and disdain behind the shot summing up the domination of bat over ball in those late overs.Some of that contempt for the bowling was also on display in Smith’s early ambush of Ben Hilfenhaus – the same bowler who was taken for 14 off the last three balls by Smith in Mumbai Indians’ thrilling win in an earlier meeting. He used his wrists well, pulled, flicked, swept and found the boundary with ease in a quick opening stand of 47.But Shadab Jakati, brought in for this game in place of seamer Yo Mahesh, bowled with discipline at the other end. He bowled a tight line, and his fielders backed him up well. Some superb fielding by Jadeja at point caused a mix-up between Smith and Tendulkar, who was run out, and Smith soon followed, spooning a catch in the same region. Albie Morkel, who got some away movement, had Dinesh Karthik and Rohit Sharma nicking to the keeper, and Ambati Rayudu fell slog-sweeping against R Ashwin. When Franklin was dismissed in the 14th over with 84 still to get, the task was even beyond Pollard. Mumbai Indians’ depth in batting promised a close fight, but the pressure of a big chase in a must-win game proved too big to overcome.

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL match between Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Kings XI Punjab in Indore

The Preview by Nitin Sundar12-May-2011

Match facts

Friday, May 13, Indore
Start time 2000 (14.30 GMT)Parthiv Patel has batted with verve for Kochi•AFP

Big Picture

We are into that part of the season where calculators are whipped out, heads are scratched, spread-sheets are filled and scenarios are chalked out. The good news for Kochi Tuskers Kerala is that they can still make the play-offs. The good news for Kings XI Punjab is that if they beat Kochi on Friday, they will be on par with them on the points table. The bad news for both is that another slip-up could end their faltering campaigns. It’s all to play for as the IPL heads to its newest destination, the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore.It will be a ‘home’ game for Kochi, which is tough to justify given that Indore, located in central India, is around 800km closer to Mohali than it is to Kochi. Not that Kochi will mind the migration, given that they have won more games away than at home this season. Mahela Jayawardene will hope for a pitch with pace and carry on it – his seam-heavy attack thrives in zippy conditions, while his batsmen have been bowled out three times on sluggish tracks.Interestingly, Kochi and Punjab are the only sides that have managed to defeat both Chennai and Mumbai – finalists of IPL 2010, and two of the form teams so far this year. Whichever side derives more self-belief and momentum from those performances will run out winners on Friday.

Form guide (most recent first)

Punjab: WLLLL (ninth in points table)
Kochi: LWWLL (sixth in points table)

Team talk

In five games, David Hussey’s contribution to Punjab’s cause has been 20 runs and one wicket. David Miller and Ryan McLaren will feel hard done if they continue to warm the bench while Hussey plays.Ramesh Powar has leaked 9.33 runs per over for his two wickets. Sreesanth has every right to be indignant if Powar keeps him out again.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team Selector.

In the spotlight

In the first week of IPL 2011, Paul Valthaty was clubbing everything off the front foot, while also producing wickets with his split-finger slower balls. Since then, he has been circumspect at the top of the order, and shown a reluctance to swing through the leg side. How he goes in the last four games will decide whether he is a one-week wonder or a genuine talent.Parthiv Patel‘s baby face undermines his determination, and his stature offers few clues of his impeccable sense of timing. He specialises in cuts and chops when offered width, and can unleash a fierce little slog-sweep. Parthiv’s pluck at one-drop, sandwiched between Brendon McCullum’s brutality at the top, and Mahela Jayawardene’s finesse at No. 4, could prove crucial to Kochi’s fortunes.

Prime numbers

• He may have a reputation for waywardness, but Sreesanth (6.14 runs per over) has easily been Kochi’s most economical bowler this season
• Lasith Malinga (59 wickets) has ended RP Singh’s (58) perch at the top of the IPL wicket-takers list. RP will want to wrest back the honour during his spell against Punjab

The chatter

“I am not making an excuse but in our last few games we have played on some mediocre wickets and then you have to scrap for runs. It is a challenge and we need to adapt to that. On good tracks we have done well against strong teams be it Delhi or Kolkata.”
Will the Indore wicket bring a smile to Mahela Jayawardene‘s face?</i